Friday, June 21, 2013

Bottle cutting: some thoughts

I'm going to proceed with the idea that whoever is reading this either has a bottle cutting jig, or knows how to get one.  For those interested in using one like mine, or who want to see what I did and improve upon it, I'm showing what I use here.  As you'll see from my pictures, mine is pretty primitive.  It consists of a vertical board, a board at a 45° angle and a base post.  In the pictures that follow, I had removed the base post, and instead had the entire cutter positioned vertically on the garage floor.  I'll explain why in a moment.  

I just did an Autodesk 123d mockup (this is my first time using the tool, and I literally just did this moments ago, so be gentle - it is a pretty damn cool tool though) of my jig.  To hold the bottle cutter in place, I cut notches into the vertical board as I need them.  This set-up has allowed me a fair amount of versatility over the size of the bottle I cut and where I make the cut.  I would not call it a precision instrument.  The scoring tool is a basic glass cutter from a hardware store.  They run about $3.

(However, the lumber for the jig was entirely free: Big box stores (like Lowes and Home Depot) cut wood to their customers' specifications.  The customers then take what they want and the big box store worker throws the "waste" into a scrap pile or bucket.  I've found that if you ask nicely, and don't take more than a couple of boards, they will give these to you for free.  Don't be greedy!  Don't make them feel like they're giving you stuff they could otherwise sell to you!  It probably helps if you approach the worker with a cart containing other stuff you are (or appear to be) buying.)

Edit: A quick note on the jig design.  A reader below suggested a wheeled design, which I like, but in the end didn't go with.  My reasons for this are flexibility, simplicity and security.  The wedge shaped slot here can accommodate a wide variety of bottle/jar diameters without any moving parts.  With the base peg in place, the bottle is supported/secured in virtually all directions except up.  It is far from a perfect design, but it is easy to build and fairly efficient.  However, for those who will be cutting only beer and wine bottles, the wheeled version of jig may be more efficient than the one I show here.  Here are a couple of alternative designs:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Glass-Bottle-Cutter/

http://www.instructables.com/id/Drinking-Glasses-from-Wine-Bottles/

http://www.instructables.com/id/Simple-Adjustable-Glass-Bottle-Cutter/

http://www.instructables.com/id/Want-to-cut-wine-bottles-Build-this-jig/

Mine could be called a variation on the last of these.  I wanted it to be able to cut at many different heights, hence the wedge with an unfixed cutter/scorer.  I cut slots in the vertical board to hold the cutter at the place I want to make the cut.  Step 3 will show this in greater detail.  I'm also including a picture of a small San Pellegrino bottle and a large mayonnaise jar I recently cut.  The former has a 2 inch diameter, the latter, a 4 inch diameter.  A wine bottle falls in between these two, at about 3 inches diameter.  This flexibility is one of the advantages of this style of jig.


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